What do you say, Tarrytown? – Hudson Indy Westchester’s Rivertowns News –

November 1, 2024

By Barrett Seaman and Solace Church–

Ever since the late 17s^th century, citizens of New England towns decided communal matters at “Open Town Meetings,” where public issues and elections were discussed by the entire population gathered in one place at a time. After all sides had been heard, an elder or selectman would call for an up or down vote: “What do you say, (Woodstock or Salem or Lowell)?” People would then answer “Yes” or “No” and the matter was decided.

The people of New England saw this as the purest form of democracy, and in the smaller towns of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire, something like Open Town Meetings continues today. In an increasingly complex world, however, it is impossible, if not impossible, to manage people’s affairs in such a simple manner.

Elections for national, or even state, office are particularly complex because rural-urban distinctions blur and the issues themselves are often entangled in layers of local, state, and federal—and sometimes even international—authorities.

Take Tarrytown, a village of just under 12,000 people, about 7,500 of whom are registered voters, subject to five levels of government: local, city, county, state and federal. In the national arena, recent redistricting changes have split village voters between two congressional districts, one tied to northern and upriver communities, the other to central and southern Westchester County and parts of the Bronx.

The village’s cultural and economic ties are strongest with the other Hudson Valley river towns, including immediate neighbors Irvington to the south and Sleepy Hollow to the north. Tarrytown is part of the town of Greenburgh, while Sleepy Hollow falls under the jurisdiction of Mt. Pleasant, although the two villages have more in common with each other than with their respective cities.

In the larger scheme of things, how Tarrytown votes on Nov. 5 will have little impact on the race for president and only slightly more on its congressional races. However, conversations ranging from casual sidewalk chats to more structured interviews by The Hudson Independent it suggests a broad sense of political commitment, strong opinions and, in some cases, deep anxiety about the presidential contest. As the 17th District congressional race is close and may determine which party controls the House of Representatives, it also raises the level of anxiety in the village.

In a brief survey of voters whose identities we agreed not to publish, The Hudson Independent asked what each considered the two most important issues in the campaign. Issue choice emerged as a reliable indicator of how they would vote. Those who chose immigration and the economy were much more likely to back Trump, while those who chose reproductive rights, “the character” or “the future of democracy” almost invariably sided with Harris.

The voters we surveyed live on or near the dividing line between the 16th and 17th districts — close enough that if they lived right across the street, they would be choosing between a different set of candidates. In the 16th District race between County Supervisor George Latimer and Dr. Miriam Levitt Flisser, Republican, the issues voters thought were most important were not as closely tied to their voting preference as they were in the race between Republican incumbent Congressman Mike Lawler and former Rep. Mondaire Jones in CD-17. Every registered Republican I spoke with, some independents and at least one Democrat allowed that they would or might vote for Lawler. In the 16th District, Latimer was the voter’s choice regardless of affiliation.

We also asked how comfortable these voters were talking about the election in their social or work environment. Many confessed to feeling uncomfortable outside of close family and trusted friends, some but not all of whom were anti-Trumpers. One woman, a registered Democrat who plans to vote for Trump, complained that “if you say something (good) about the Republican party, you get smeared,” she said, “There’s a lot of misrepresentation on a lot of issues.”

(For a sample of responses from our survey, go to:

Tarrytown politics wasn’t always a blood sport, according to longtime residents and trial participants. The political and cultural demographics have been turned upside down in many ways in recent decades. At one time, a former officeholder observed, most of the village elites were Republicans, albeit what were known as “Rockefeller Republicans.” They tend to be fiscally conservative and social pragmatists. Working-class voters, many of them employees of the General Motors plant on the site now occupied by the Edge-on-Hudson complex, were the mainstay of the Democratic Party.

Today, in terms of party affiliation as reflected in county registration records, Tarrytown is strongly Democratic. As of the 2020 census, for every four registered Democrats in the village there are two unaffiliated (independent) voters and one Republican. Not all of those Democrats will vote for Kamala Harris, just as not all of the Republicans are committed to Donald Trump.

While reports vary slightly, Democrats generally dominate in river towns. They are likely to be college-educated, socially liberal, and pro-women, while among the predominantly white working-class voters who make up the Republican base, the vocabulary is one of complaint and resentment against what they see as protected classes – people of color, those who identify as LGBTQ+, immigrants, and the elites who control the money and levers of power. The Rockefeller Republicans are a relic of the past.

Democratic parties in each of the river town’s villages tend to be well organized, with district leaders, regular meetings and a willingness to get out and vote. Tarrytown Republicans have no discernible party structure, and when running for local office they often register as members of a third party, “Village First”, for example, in addition to or instead of the Republican ballot line.

How about Tarrytown? There is not much doubt that the majority of voters here will vote for Kamala Harris in the presidential race. Those who live in the District 16 area of ​​the city will support George Latimer – probably by a large margin. How the battle (and it was a battle) between Mondaire Jones and Mike Lawler ends is anyone’s guess, but its outcome may be the closest local reflection of the current climate of American politics, with long-lasting social and political consequences.

To review stories about this 2024 election previously published by The Indy, go to:

Read or leave a comment on this story…

---